The Survey Results Are In: Rate the Antique Reality Shows

Posted September 2011

By Mike McLeod

The results have been tallied for the totally unscientific poll conducted on the popularity of reality shows based on antiques and collectibles. Since the survey was first published in May, even more reality shows have aired, including the Keno Brothers’ Buried Treasures (Fox), It’s Worth What? (NBC), Picker Sisters (Lifetime), Cash and Cari (HGTV), Auction Packed (National Geographic Channel), What the Sell?! (TLC), Storage Hunters (TruTV), American Restoration (History Channel), and probably more. At least one show has come and gone since then, TLC’s Auctioneer$.

Of course, there are more on the horizon. Debuting soon in the U.K. is Four Rooms, in which specially-selected sellers bring in unique items (a mummified mermaid, a large bust of Hitler and a stuffed polar bear, for example) and try to get the best price from four big-name antiques dealers. Each dealer is in a separate room, and if a seller turns down an offer, there is no going back if the other offers are lower.

There seems to be no end in sight for this genre of reality show, but for now, the 12 shows we featured in the survey were: American Pickers, Antiques Roadshow, Auction Hunters, Auction Kings, Cash In The Attic, Hardcore Pawn, History Detectives, Hollywood Treasures, Oddities, Pawn Stars, Pawn Queens, and Storage Wars. And here is how they fared:

The top three shows most often watched by our survey takers are: #1 Antiques Roadshow, #2 American Pickers, and #3 Pawn Stars. Those least watched are: #10 Oddities, #11 Pawn Queens, and #12 Hollywood Treasures.

The top three shows watched because of their stars are: #1 American Pickers, #2 Antiques Roadshow, and #3 Storage Wars. Those least watched for the stars are: #10 Hardcore Pawn and History Detectives (tie), #11 Oddities, and #12 Hollywood Treasure and Pawn Queens (tie).

The top three shows watched to see the antiques are: #1 Antiques Roadshow, #2 American Pickers, and #3 Pawn Stars. The shows rarely watched for the antiques are: #11 Pawn Queens, and #12 Hardcore Pawn, Hollywood Treasures and Oddities (three-way tie).

The shows with the favorite stars are: #1 American Pickers (which almost doubled the votes for the next show), #2 Pawn Stars, and #3 Antiques Roadshow.

The top vote getters for favorite star were: #1 Mike Wolf, American Pickers; #2 Austin “Chumlee” Russell, Pawn Stars; and #3 the Kenos, Antiques Roadshow. Chumlee may be a surprise to some, but Pawn Stars averages 5.5 million viewers per episode for the season. Honorable Mentions were: Frank Fritz, American Pickers; and Rick Harrison, Pawn Stars. Barely Mentioned (but at least someone likes them enough to vote for them) were: Barry Weis, Storage Wars; The Old Man, Pawn Stars; Paul Brown, Auction Kings; Dave Hester, Storage Wars; David Dickinson, Antiques Roadshow UK; Wes Cowan, History Detectives; Alan Haff, Auction Hunters; and Danielle Cushman, American Pickers.

And now, the bad news.

The shows that should be canceled immediately, according to the survey responders, are: #1 Hardcore Pawn, #2 Pawn Queens, and #3 Oddities.

The shows with the most disliked stars are: #1 Hardcore Pawn (which almost doubled the votes of), #2 Pawn Queens, and #3 Storage Wars. To avoid adding insult to injury, the survey did not ask that the most disliked person on these reality TV shows be named. You can decide that out for yourself, and you probably have.